


Trodden Black in Despair

by Arytra



Series: Two Roads Diverged [2]
Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Power Rangers Turbo
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Bad Universe, Families of Choice, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-24 16:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7515739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Countdown to Destruction happened, Tommy ended up adopting five kids, one of which being his former teammate. Yet it's his second decision on the island that changed how everything would be forever. The bad universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I started a story and partway through ended up creating a second universe for it. In one, the decisions made led to a fluffy universe. In the other, an angsty one. So, I'm writing and posting them at the same time. The prologue is identical for both, but from the next chapter on, they are divergent. You don't have to read both to get what's going on.

Tommy had been insistent that he needed to find Justin when he'd spoken to the others. He'd been the closest to Angel Grove and even though it was high ill-advised to go running into the city, leaving his youngest teammate seemed worse. The current Rangers were too busy to find their former teammate and Tommy should have made sure that the kid was safe with his father before he left. He'd wanted everything to be perfect when he left. The answer was that he never should have left. To hell with Dimitria and what she said, he could have stuck around like Billy did and helped the new Rangers out. Or at least called in more. He wasn't mad at the Rangers themselves because he understood and they'd been great successors. He just wished he'd done more. None of that was going to help now. When he'd found out that Justin's dad wasn't even in town, he'd rushed there. He'd seen the bastard on T.V. and Justin wasn't with him. Tommy was just hoping that meant that he was still in Angel Grove. Then again, he could have been happy if Justin was literally anywhere else that wasn't a horrifying battlefield.

He was counting on the Power to call to Power and that he would be able to find Justin from there. It did seem to be leading him somewhere, but that wasn't an exact destination. To make matters worse, he had started toward the Command Center first before realizing it and he was pretty sure he'd been drawn to the newer team as well. Neither was where he was trying to go at the moment. So when he saw the small, broken abandoned building and Storm Blaster outside of it, he nearly cheered. Instead, he rushed to the front of it, noticing Storm Blaster's distinct look that Justin had told him about over the phone before knocking on the door. The car didn't stop him, so he must have been radiating his own power from the Zeo Crystal. “Justin?”

“Tommy?” The boy stuck his head out from where he was hiding, looking suspicious in a way that made Tommy feel worse for not getting there quicker. “What are you doing here?”

“I'm looking for you,” Tommy answered. “I saw your dad on the news.”

Justin looked at the ground. “He left before everything happened,” he offered and Tommy looked at him sternly.

“When did he try to come back?” He asked. Justin didn't answer. “Come on, you're coming with me.”

“I can't,” Justin said. Tommy raised an eyebrow.

“Why not?” He asked. “It's not safe here, Justin.”

“I know!” Justin yelled and Tommy unconsciously took a step back. Justin tried to rein in his temper. “Sorry. I know.”

“Then why can't we get out of here?” Tommy demanded. Justin sighed and motioned for him to follow. Tommy did as his youngest teammate asked. Inside the hovel were four kids, slightly younger than Justin. Justin stood next to them and folded his arms.

“I can't leave them,” he said and Tommy just sighed.

“Justin...”

“They need me!” He insisted, shaking when he spoke. “They don't have anyone else! They lost their parents, Tommy! I can't leave them!”

Tommy reached out and grabbed Justin's shoulders. “Justin,” he said firmly. “I'm not going to leave a bunch of kids on their own. We'll figure out what to do but for now, I'm taking care of all of you.”

“Oh,” Justin said. “Thanks.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Come on,” he said. “You four too. We're leaving.”

All four of them looked at Justin who nodded. “He's safe,” Justin promised. The kids rushed out of the makeshift home and Tommy looked at him.

“Do you want to follow me in Storm Blaster?” He asked. Justin nodded. “Okay. Can you fit all of them in there?”

“Not legally,” Justin offered. Tommy snorted.

“I'm not stopping a 13 year old from driving a car. I think that we're done with “legal”,” he said. Justin laughed. Tommy turned to the others. “Pick a car and get in. We're getting out of town.”

“Where are we going?” The only girl asked.

“To stay with a friend of mine,” he answered. They didn't ask any other questions, but quietly got into the cars. They were out of town soon after and at a rest stop when Tommy finally looked the four over. He sat down so he wasn't taller than them and recognized the overwhelmed looks on them. “I'm Tommy. I'm an old friend of Justin's.”

“They know,” Justin said. “I had to morph in front of them.”

Tommy nodded. “I'm an old teammate of Justin's,” he said.

“You were a Power Ranger too?” One of them piped up. Tommy nodded. “I'm Ethan.”

For a minute, Tommy thought about questioning the kid on just giving his name, but it had been proven time and time again that most kids treated Power Rangers the same way they were taught to treat other authority figures: They were safe to talk to. The girl looked at him.

“Which Ranger were you?” She asked. “You're a lot older than Justin.”

“Thanks,” Tommy said sardonically. “I had a couple of colors. It's not important right now. What's your name?”

“Kira,” she said, folding her arms. He looked at Justin.

“She thinks Ethan is too trusting, Trent is too shy, and Conner is too broken,” Justin explained. “So she thinks she needs to keep an eye on them.”

“I do!” She said, beginning a fight that Tommy had the feeling had been stated several times in the last day or so. Tommy turned his attention to the last two before they could continue. He was guessing that Trent was the quiet one while Conner was the one Trent's arm was around. Trent looked up at him and then out toward the grass before making a decision.

“He hasn't talked,” Trent said finally. “I think he was there...”

“None of the rest of you were?” Tommy asked and Trent shook his head.

“The house fell on my parents,” he offered. “Justin helped me through the rubble until we knew. But I didn't see much.”

“Car accident,” Kira answered. “They were coming to pick me up.”

“My baby-sitter got a call,” Ethan offered. “It was before she ran away.”

Tommy looked at Justin who nodded. “Yeah,” Justin said, agreeing with Tommy's horror. “I don't know what happened with Conner, but I know one thing.”

“What?” Tommy asked, moving away from Conner so Justin could tell him out of earshot.

“I found him near the lake,” he said softly. “He wanted to know where 'Eric' was. He was wet, Tommy.”

Tommy paled. “He watched his brother drown?” He asked.

“I think so,” Justin answered. Tommy sighed.

“Shit,” he said. Justin looked at him in surprise. “I think swearing is warranted right now, Justin. Alright. We'll wait until this is over and then I'll file for custody.”

Justin blinked. “What?”

“You and I both know that they aren't going to let you go back to your dad, Justin,” he said. Justin nodded. “This way, I know you're safe.”

“No one is going to give a 19 year old custody of five kids, Tommy,” he reminded him.

“It's Angel Grove. They'll let us. Then we're getting you guys into therapy,” Tommy said firmly. “For now, we're going to Hayley's.”

***

When everything was said and done, Tommy was shocked about a few things: One, that Angel Grove had easier adoption laws than apparently anywhere else ever. Two, that they let him adopt five children when he was barely out of high school because he could provide them with a home. Three, that said children took to him pretty quickly, but they adored Justin. Four, Justin was not only a good big brother, but absolutely needed for the household to function and Tommy was grateful that Justin was on his side. He also learned that Hayley had absolutely no faith in him whatsoever.

“When you said you were bringing them back, I supported you. When you wanted to give them a place to live for a while, I backed you up. But explain to me how adopting five kids who all need counseling is a great idea when you're grieving for a father figure and are 19?!”

“I'll be 20 soon,” he argued, igoring the other part for now. Losing Zordon hurt a lot more than he'd every thought possible. “And I can't just let them get split up, Hales. Besides, I'm not alone. I have you and I have the other former Rangers and I have Justin.”

“Justin is one of them!” Hayley argued.

“He's a former Ranger, my teammate, and a genius,” Tommy shot back, trying to ignore the feeling of guilt that he hadn't treated Justin that way when they'd been Rangers.

“And he's a kid,” Hayley emphasized. “And before you try the 'he saved the world' and 'I was his age when I became a Ranger', I'm not saying he can't do those things. I'm saying that he's way too young to help you parent! He's going to have issues of his own.”

“And that's why we're all going into counseling,” Tommy said firmly. She looked surprised.

“Even you?” She asked and he shrugged.

“I have to set a good example,” he admitted. “But I'm not going to be able to do much. I can't talk about the Ranger thing.”

“It's something,” she agreed. “Call the others. We might as well get everyone on board at the same time.”

Tommy smiled. “Thanks,” he said honestly.

“Does that mean we can stay?” Conner asked from the doorway. The others were standing around him with Justin a little further off. All of them looked nervous and Tommy wasn't surprised to see that Hayley looked a little embarrassed.

“You're staying,” Tommy said firmly. “You're also supposed to be in bed.”

“We couldn't sleep so we decided to listen in,” Conner answered. Tommy was glad the kid was talking. He was. He just wished that Conner wasn't so blunt. The others apparently agreed as they just groaned. Other than Justin who just looked at Tommy. Tommy looked back.

“You're staying,” he said again, directing it at Justin. “Now, can you help me get them to bed?”

“Sure,” Justin said, but the younger quartet had already taken off. Tommy sighed, giving a small smile when he noticed that Justin was still standing there. “Are you sure?”

“Yep,” Tommy said. “We'll make it work, Justin.”

“I'm not leaving,” Justin said firmly. Tommy pulled him into a hug.

“Good.”


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One choice changes how the family will be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's where Choice and this story diverge. From now on, they'll have separate outcomes.

There had been bumps along the way and both Justin and Tommy would admit that they hadn't done the best job at times, but they were a functional family. All four of the younger kids were active and vocal, other than Trent who Tommy was pretty sure hadn't been vocal to begin with. Still, they were a family. They just happened to be a family where the dad was trying to rebuild Jurassic Park. That was Justin's opinion anyway. He'd gotten involved, endeared himself to Anton Mercer, and often came to help at the island. Tommy insisted he was just trying to annoy him by being there, but he actually brought a lot to the table. To Tommy's relief, Conner wasn't willing to go anywhere near the island even after counseling. The others stayed back with him so he wouldn't feel bad about it. Only Ethan waffled and Justin assured him that he probably wouldn't enjoy going anyway since most of it was pretty boring to watch until the dinosaurs were born.

The island was exploding. Justin knew that much from what was going on. He was nearly certain that one of the two scientists on the island would have let him know if this was planned. Granted, he wasn't sure if it would be his adoptive father or Dr. Mercer, but one of them would have told him. He knew that much. As it was, he was pretty sure he needed to hightail it back to the base. He raced toward, using the Power to keep himself from getting exhausted and stopped when he saw some things going in and out of the building. He saw something reptilian heading in and started to follow when he was pulled down into the bushes. He started to shout when Anton put a finger to his mouth.

“Don't,” he said quietly. “He'll hear you.”

“What happened?” Justin asked. Mercer sighed.

“If I had to guess,” he said carefully. “I'd say something happened with your father.”

“Tommy? That thing...” Justin asked, starting to get up to go in. Mercer gently grabbed his arm.

“Justin,” he said firmly. “There were three people on this island. Tommy is missing.”

Justin's eyes widened in understanding. Before he could say anything else, Mercer was leading him away as the explosions grew closer. Mercer pulled three crystals out of his pocket. “Your father and I found these.”

“Those are...” Justin started, feeling the Power radiating. Mercer nodded.

“You knew we were making dinosaurs, but this is why Justin,” he said. “We made a mistake. We thought we could control them.”

“What did you do?!” Justin demanded. Mercer sighed.

“We went too far,” he admitted. The explosions were getting closer and Justin could see that the creatures were coming toward them. “You can stop them, Justin.”

Justin nodded and quickly morphed. They were near the edge of the cliff. “Stay back, Dr. Mercer,” Justin said in an authoritative voice. He felt Mercer press the gems into his hand.

“I'm sorry, Justin,” he said, pulling his hand back and shoved Justin back. “Tell the children, I'm so sorry.”

Justin flew backward off the cliff as the explosions continued. There was a painful crash against the water and then he blacked out. 

***

“He's waking up!” Justin winced as he tried to open his eyes. “Easy, Justin. You had a really bad fall.”

“Kimberly?” Justin asked, trying to open his eyes. Sure enough, the former Pink Ranger was smiling down at him. Jason's face appeared next to hers.

“Hey, Justin,” he said. “You had a pretty bad concussion. You've been out for a couple days.” 

Justin winced and his eyes widened. “What about my brothers and sister?”

“Zack's with the kids. We wanted to talk to you first,” Jason answered. He didn't seem angry, but Justin felt like child in trouble anyway. He hated being younger than the others.

“What happened?” Kim asked. He had the feeling that Billy was the one keeping an eye on life signs and that Trini was somewhere else in the room. He swallowed, not wanting to answer.

“Tommy? Anton?” He asked, hoping to buy time and find out that he wasn't alone. Jason's expression shifted a bit and Justin didn't need the answer. “Oh.”

“We found Mercer's body,” Jason said gently. “We haven't found Tommy's.”

“You won't,” Justin said quietly. There was silence for a moment before they realized that Justin wasn't going to continue.

“Why don't you start from the beginning,” Kim suggested. Justin clenched the sheets. He was supposed to be the adult. He was almost as old as Tommy had been when he'd taken them in. Yet, he really didn't want to handle it alone.

“We were on the island researching. Hayley was watching my brothers and sister. They did something and Tommy... he's not Tommy anymore,” Justin answered.

“What is he?” Trini asked as she moved to his field of vision.

“Something different,” Justin answered. “Reptilian. Dr. Mercer gave me the gems and pushed me into the sea.”

Jason just nodded. “It's not your fault.”

“He said that the gems would protect us,” Justin continued, not hearing Jason's words. “There's something wrong with Tommy. I think he's evil. Again.”

“We'll handle it,” Jason promised. He squeezed Justin's hand. “We'll bring him back.”

Justin felt a sense of relief as he realized he didn't have to be the grown up anymore. He leaned back against the pillows and let some of his tears fall as the others rushed in. “Justin!” He heard Kira shout, but Conner was the first one to hug him. Ethan was on his other side before he could manage to squeak out a pained moan while Trent just stood over and looked worried.

“I'll be fine, guys,” he assured them.

“Uncle Zack said that Uncle Anton is dead,” Trent said quietly. “And we don't know where Dad is.”

“I'm here,” he answered, looking directly at Trent who looked the most worried. “I'm here.”

“Don't leave,” Conner's voice muffled into his shoulder.

“I won't,” he promised. He didn't add the rest of the promise. He'd be responsible for them. He wouldn't let them get split up or die or anything stupid like that. “We're a family.”

He looked at Jason who nodded, though the look on the older man's face assured him that he wasn't alone.

***

Jason let him know when they were heading out to find Tommy. Justin kept the quartet busy the entire day and waited for their aunts and uncles to bring Tommy back. When he didn't hear from them the morning after, he called Rocky and Adam to look into it. The call wasn't what he wanted to hear. “Justin... we're going to keep looking, but we can't find him...”

It was a month after that when Justin made the decision. He brought a map into the kitchen when his siblings were out and looked at Hayley. “Pick a town.”

“Why?” She asked.

“We're setting up there,” he said. “Once you do it, I'm pulling away from the other Power Rangers.”

“Justin...”

“We're not losing anyone else!” He growled. She took a step back. She could argue with him later.

“Reefside,” she said. He nodded.

“Fine.”


End file.
